Cannon: another run at de-reg bill coming

The House will likely take another run at a bill that would have deregulated several professions, including interior designers, says Speaker Dean Cannon. In a pre-session interview this week with reporters, Cannon said the House still regarded the measure as important and would try to work with the Senate to get it approved. “I think it reflects a basic Republican, conservative premise that government shouldn’t try to control anything unless it really needs to, and if the benefit of regulating something outweighs the cost and the potential unintended consequences,” Cannon said of the measure, which was voted down in the Senate during the chaotic final day of this year’s session.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has already said his chamber will also consider a deregulation bill. The 2011 proposal died because it was a budget conforming bill, which some Republican senators thought was an inappropriate way of ramming that measure and several others through the process. Cannon also suggested the Legislature might dial back the number of conforming bills in the face of the complaints, though he also offered a defense of last year’s spike in the number of bills. “No one should demonize or consider conforming bills or implementing bills or any part of the [budget] as particularly negative — it’s, look at the policy,” Cannon said.www.newsserviceflorida.com